Patronage

AHMEDABAD: The father of one of the two boys found dead near Asaram Ashram here in 2008 today claimed the real culprits were still at large and Asaram Bapu was enjoying "political patronage". Cousins Dipesh Vaghela (10) and Abhishek Vaghela (11) went missing from the residential school -- Gurukul -- run by the controversial godman on July 3, 2008. Two days later, their mutilated bodies were found in the riverbed nearby. "Five years have passed, but the real culprits were never...

In 2009, President Barack Obama became the first US President to celebrate Diwali - the festival of lights - officially at the White House and last week, US secretary of state John Kerry, celebrated the Indian festival for the first time at the state department in Washington DC. "As the days grow shorter, Diwali reminds us that spring always returns — that knowledge triumphs over ignorance, hope outlasts despair, and light replaces darkness....

Perpetuating the paradigm of patronage politics as an essential electoral tool couldn't have been more clearer than the government, in what could possibly be the last Cabinet meeting of UPA-II, deciding to include the Jat community in the OBC list for reservations in jobs and education in nine states. The simple logic is that a numerically large community, across key states like Haryana, Himachal Pradesh , Madhya Pradesh , Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, among others,...

EVEN in the midst of the carnage in Gujarat we as a nation have not been able to stay away from the blame game. It is bad enough that the Gujarat government cannot condemn the killings without first insisting it is a reaction to the incident in Godhra. But even those on the other side took their time before they condemned the Godhra incident outright, without first pointing a finger to the extent to which the Hindutva movement had vitiated the communal environment. Somewhere along the...

NEW DELHI/BANGALORE: The government's Bharat Operating System Solutions (BOSS), which was initially touted as a home-grown alternative to Microsoft's Windows, is seeing a slow death due to lack of government support and investments. Updates are infrequent, customer support is inefficient and there is an overall lack of coordination with hardware vendors for wider support across devices. In the past, BOSS won many government contracts mainly because of the...

By Neerja Chowdhury, Senior Columnist The kerfuffle over the right of a new government to change governors has raised many a constitutional issue which needs to be revisited, but it has also underscored, yet once again, the tendency to post-retired "men in uniform" to the Northeastern states. Just because the region has been prone to insurgencies, the posting of governors who are former army generals,...

PUNE: Sitar maestro Pandit Ravishankar has urged the powerful corporate sector in the country to come forward to support the cause of Indian classical music to keep its glorious tradition and heritage alive. "Today there are many Indians listed in the world's richest persons. It is now for the country's private sector to give patronage to classical music lest it should become extinct with a generation of artistes downhill," the 87-year-old legendary musician...

What is common between the BJP's virtual surrender before two Reddies come lately, the delayed swearing-in of the Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtra and the postponed cabinet expansion in Haryana? The capture of power by pelf. Politics has become alienated from its basic function of mediating between the people and the state to advance the public good, and been reduced to increasing the wealth of the people's representatives who get to wield power. The piteous sight of not just veteran politician and...

Blow to identity politics The BSP's comprehensive victory in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections is immensely significant. For one, it makes way for political stability that has eluded the state, with its hopelessly fractured polity, for the past one-and-a-half decades. For another, it spells a mandate against both Mulayam Singh's misrule of decentralised 'secular' crime, patronage and graft, and the BJP's pernicious communal politics. But the icing on the cake is that a...

Mr Ratan Tata did not exactly offer a blinding new insight when he talked of political power being used to collect rent or offer patronage. But the fact that he chose to bring up the subject in the aftermath of the recent , royal exit from the telecom ministry is significant. Business as a whole suffers as a result of corrupt politics, which stunts economic growth. The lesson from India's low rank in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business listing of countries is no different.

The Election Commission, by declaring assembly polls in UP, has introduced yet another imponderable into the Congress's unseemly game of trying to impose President's rule on the state. Technically, the announcement does not create any constitutional hurdle for the Union cabinet to go ahead and invoke Article 356 in UP, if it so wishes. It may, however, now be too much of a moral hurdle for the Congress to ignore. In fact, the party should be grateful to the EC for having shown it the way out...

Perpetuating the paradigm of patronage politics as an essential electoral tool couldn't have been more clearer than the government, in what could possibly be the last Cabinet meeting of UPA-II, deciding to include the Jat community in the OBC list for reservations in jobs and education in nine states. The simple logic is that a numerically large community, across key states like Haryana, Himachal Pradesh , Madhya Pradesh , Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, among others,...

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is changing India's politics for the better, and for good. It is making other parties change, by the force of its own example, and this might prove to be its lasting contribution rather than its own direct achievements. Except in Kerala, democracy is an abstract norm in India, not the lived reality it should be. The entrenched personnel of the state lack any accountability to the people, in whose name and for...

The BJP in Uttar Pradesh has officially felicitated two of its members in the Uttar Pradesh assembly who stand accused of inciting the widespread communal riots in Muzaffarnagar and its surrounding areas in August-September. The MLAs, Sangeet Som and Suresh Rana , are accused of egging on people to riot. Som is accused of distributing a violent video, originally shot in Pakistan, and distributing it to a large number of people through a popular...

AHMEDABAD: The father of one of the two boys found dead near Asaram Ashram here in 2008 today claimed the real culprits were still at large and Asaram Bapu was enjoying "political patronage". Cousins Dipesh Vaghela (10) and Abhishek Vaghela (11) went missing from the residential school -- Gurukul -- run by the controversial godman on July 3, 2008. Two days later, their mutilated bodies were found in the riverbed nearby. "Five years have passed, but the real culprits were...

The Prime Minister did well to call for law enforcement agencies to carry out their inquiry into minister Maran's alleged misdeeds without fear or favour. Regardless of whether it would induce Mr Maran's uncle and DMK leader Karunanidhi to downgrade the Congress one additional notch on his scale of friendship, this is the only prudent reaction available to the PM and the UPA leadership. Which takes some of the moral sheen off this welcome stand against corruption. There is a...

KORAMANGALA: Fashion boutiques in Koramangala are grabbing eyeballs for all the right reasons. These one-stop fashion shops have turned into the perfect launchpads for aspiring designers. The high revenue yielding start-ups have gained clients from the South Indian film and television industry as well. RSG Collection by Rupa is a well-known brand among the South Indian film producers for their affordable and chic line of design. Initially targeting...

By: Minhaz Merchant, Chairman, Merchant Media The Rae Bareli seat in Uttar Pradesh has been a Gandhi family bastion since 1967 when Indira Gandhi first stood for election from there. Sonia Gandhi adopted the constituency in 2004 and was re-elected with a huge majority in 2009. It should, therefore, be one of India's most developed districts. Right? Wrong. The Hunger and Malnutrition , or HUNGaMA,...